Buckwheat Blini

the small, soft, faintly sour yeast-risen buckwheat pancakes of the Russian Maslenitsa feast, their round golden faces standing for the sun, served with soured cream, melted butter, herring, or caviar

Origin: Russia

From the journey of Buckwheat.

The true Russian blin is not the thin crêpe of the modern café but a small, soft, spongy, yeast-risen pancake, and by old custom it is made at least partly with buckwheat flour, which gives it a tender crumb and a gentle, earthy sourness. Above all, blini belong to Maslenitsa, the exuberant 'butter week' that precedes the Lenten fast, a pre-Christian sun festival folded into the Orthodox calendar in which the round, golden, warm blin is eaten by the dozen as a symbol of the returning sun. They are served slathered with melted butter and soured cream (smetana), and topped according to means and occasion with salted herring, smoked salmon, mushrooms, or, at their grandest, a spoonful of caviar. Raised with yeast and left to ferment and bubble, then cooked on a hot griddle until lacy-edged and golden, buckwheat blini are one of the oldest and most evocative of all the Russian uses of the national grain.

Ingredients

The Batter

150 g buckwheat flour
100 g plain wheat flour
7 g fast-action dried yeast (1 sachet)
1 tsp sugar
0.75 tsp salt
400 ml warm milk
2 eggs, separated
30 g butter, melted, plus more for cooking

To Serve

soured cream (smetana), melted butter, herring, smoked salmon, or caviar, to serve

Method

Whisk the buckwheat flour, wheat flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Warm the milk to blood heat and whisk it in along with the egg yolks and the melted butter to make a smooth, fairly loose batter.
Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place for about 1.5 to 2 hours, until the batter is bubbly, risen, and smells pleasantly sour.
Just before cooking, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold them gently into the risen batter.
Heat a heavy frying pan or blini pan over a medium heat and brush with butter. Drop in small ladles of batter to make pancakes about 8 to 10 cm across. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the surface is covered in burst bubbles and the underside is golden.
Flip and cook the second side for about a minute, until golden. Brush the pan with butter between batches and keep the blini warm under a cloth.
Serve warm, with bowls of soured cream and melted butter and your chosen toppings, letting everyone build their own.

Notes

The proportion of buckwheat to wheat flour can be raised for a darker, earthier, more traditional blin, or lowered for a lighter one; all-buckwheat blini are possible but fragile. Leftover batter keeps a day in the fridge. Blini freeze well and reheat in a warm oven.

The Gastrographer

Name: Buckwheat Blini
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Russia
Ingredients: 150 g buckwheat flour; 100 g plain wheat flour; 7 g fast-action dried yeast (1 sachet); 1 tsp sugar; 0.75 tsp salt; 400 ml warm milk; 2 eggs, separated; 30 g butter, melted, plus more for cooking; soured cream (smetana), melted butter, herring, smoked salmon, or caviar, to serve

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control